Constant entertainment thanks to XXL effects, outfit changes & surprising guest appearances. We were there.
Shirin David easily filled the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin on Wednesday, November 22nd. Within a very short time, the tickets were sold out on official sales websites. If you only wanted to go to the show after thinking about it for a long time, you had to hope that ticket holders changed their mind and wanted to resell their tickets. The run for tickets for their show was huge – even though no one yet knew how David would perform live. Does she even have the voice for an entire show? Is she persistent? This is precisely what is in focus in rap, as genre fans want to know whether the rap skills were just edited together in the studio or whether real skill was delivered.
After the debut album SUPERSIZE (2019) and the successor BITCHES NEED RAP (2021), the 28-year-old only ventured onto the stage for concerts for the first time in 2023. Starting with her guest moment at arrest warrant’s show at Splash Festival. Later, her second appearance at Shindy’s gig attracted a lot of attention – but not in a positive way. Because “Affalterbach” live caused some speculation as to whether Shirin David would end up just rapping to playback. Many fans who had already purchased their tickets to the live tour expressed concern on social media about what kind of shows would follow.
But the rapper seemed to grow under this pressure, as she only delivered high-quality performances in the nine stops of the ten-city tour so far. With numerous pyro effects, dancers, background singers and outfit changes, the concert in the capital was sometimes more reminiscent of US XL pop shows and not so much of classic rap performances. David not only rapped live, but also managed to (partially) keep up with the dancers.
Never out of breath
Before the actual show began, you could already understand where you were by looking around the hall extensively. A look to the right and left was enough to see: Female rap is at the start. There was a stylish collusion between hip hop and high heels. You could see stylish fans appreciating each other’s outfits here and there.
And then Shirin David came on stage with a big “Baaam”: she climbed the stage in a black patent and leather look accompanied by numerous dancers. In addition, their first appearance was tastefully underlined with huge screens on which various designs popped up.
David rapped smoothly through the first few tracks while she matched the movements of her dancers. The fans showed from the first second that they had been waiting for this performance for a long time – because the arena rapped along vigorously and often managed to scream along to entire parts without any mistakes. This didn’t go unnoticed by the rapper and she held out the microphone to the crowd more and more often. Also nice: As the concert progressed, you got the feeling that it was a joint performance.
Shirin David’s concert = a safe space
So the crowd rapped together with the Hamburg native and managed to make you forget for a moment that you were actually in a pretty cool multi-purpose hall and not in a cozy mini club with her.
David often took time between songs to talk to the audience – and not just to announce the next track and express its personal meaning. Yes, she struck up a conversation with the audience in a way; sometimes addressed individual people directly and used compliments to boost the crowd’s self-confidence and give them the feeling that it was a safe space for everyone. People felt themselves and the music.
Over time, not even the outfit changes became too strenuous for the audience to endure, because the short films always had something to look at and admire. For example, David showed a fictitious interview in which she took on the role of the “arrogant” rapper and at the same time the unprepared interviewer – until she was dressed in outfit no. 5 came back on stage and rapped the almost nine-minute track “Bramsfeld Story” alone with a microphone floating from the ceiling, without – at least obviously – breaking a sweat.
Old acquaintances meet new versions
In addition to old goldies, Shirin David also presented new versions of songs. So she turned the melodically sad and emotional song “Bad Role Model” into an aggressive rap track in terms of beats. Samples from Lil Wayne’s “A Millie” and a Nicki Minaj piece also heated up the atmosphere so much that even millennials were able to think back to previous club days.
Rap legends of the 2010s were not only honored through remixes. Kitty Kat came on stage for their joint track “Be a Hoe/Break a Hoe” and then also performed parts from her 2008 hit “Strip for me” – which was actually a collaboration with Sido. Unexpected guests also came to the show. AK Ausserkontrolle, who has not yet officially worked with David, rapped a new part live on “Bad Exemplar”.
Overall, it wasn’t just Shirin David fans who got their money’s worth at this truly international concert. She also completely surprised everyone with her new, smart song versions, the feature guests and even a harp player. Entertainment next level.